Walmart Rumored to be Considering Investing Billions in Flipkart

BENTONVILLE, AR – The battle for the best of buy-side rages on, and the fields are both brick and mortar and digital. Amongst the slew of traditional and e-commerce retailers teaming up for the best offerings to consumers, Walmart is said to be in talks with rising e-commerce operator Flipkart Online Services to invest “several billion dollars.”

A person close to the matter, who wished to remain anonymous, stated the retail giant could be in for as much as 20 percent of the India-based company, according to a Fortune report. The deal could mean boosting Flipkart’s valuation as high as $20 billion, up $8 billion from where Fortune said it had been according to researcher CB Insights.

What could this mean for the broader buy-side market?

“Walmart will make Flipkart a stronger rival to Amazon,” said Arvind Singhal, Chairman of the New Delhi-based retail consultancy Technopak Advisors. “Strategically, combining forces makes sense for both.”

Though both Flipkart and Walmart did not respond to the news source’s request for comment, the talks are reportedly in the advanced stages.

“Walmart doesn’t have much of a choice in India,” said Singhal. “They either have to go it alone or partner with someone else as Indian e-commerce has the potential to become really big.”

A key move to make, with projected growth for the country’s market raising the attention of forward thinkers like Amazon’s Founder, Jeff Bezos, who Fortune noted has vowed to spend $5 billion to gain ground in India’s online market.

Amazon itself recently met with the leader of Boxed.com to discuss an acquisition, while Kroger was discussing possible partnerships with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Walmart itself, just announced a partnership with Japan's Rakuten Inc. as well. As retailers continue to lineup their chess pieces, AndNowUKnow will report the latest.